Stead's Method And Results

W. T. Stead, the eminent English investigator, said: "I hold my pen in
the ordinary way, but when the writing is beginning I do not rest my
wrist or arm upon the paper, so as to avoid the friction, and to give
the influence, whatever it may be, more complete control of the pen. At
first, the pen is apt to wander into mere scrawling, but after a time it
writes legibly. Unlike many automatic writers who write as well
blindfolded as when they read what they write as they are writing it, I
can never write so well as when I see the words as they come. There is
danger in this, which is most clearly illustrated When my hand writes
verse--especially rhymed verse--for the last word in each line suggests
to my conscious mind a possible rhyme for the ending of the following
line; this rouses up my mind, my own ideas get mixed with those of the
communicating intelligence, and confusion is the result." The above
statement of Mr. Stead becomes doubly interesting and valuable when we
remember that through his hand, controlled by a spirit intelligence,
came that wonderful series of messages afterward published under the
title of "Letters from Julia," which book excited the attention and
interest of the civilized world at the time of its publication, and even
to this day enjoys a great popularity.